'I clearly made mistakes as a person, as a footballer,' Luis Palma

The Honduran winger has joined Lech Poznan in Poland on a season-long loan deal and has already appeared twice for his new team. Palma was a second half substitute for Poznan’s 1-0 victory over Breidablik in Iceland in Champions League qualifying on Wednesday night.

Although the 25 year-old made an impressive start to life at Celtic, his performances undoubtedly declined, leading to a loan move to Olympiacos in Greece during the second half of last season, where he also struggled to leave a mark.

In an interview with local Polish media, Palma admitted he needed to address challenges in both his personal life and his football career whilst at Celtic.

Speaking via The National, Palma said: “I clearly made mistakes as a person, as a footballer, but I’ve always said I’m a human being before I’m a player.”

“So you have to know how to handle things at home before anything else. I hired a psychologist and I am continuing my appointments with him. He’s helped me a lot in the last three years, which have changed my life.”

Palma added: “I worked on knowing how to handle pressure and fame with a psychologist. It’s very important in life to have someone like this to talk to about problems at home and in football.”

“People always see a happy face, but no one knows what’s going on behind your back. There may be problems, any number of things, but they only see the reflection of a footballer and they kill you when you don’t score a goal, miss a pass, or don’t play well.”

It is admirable that Luis has spoken openly about his struggles. Clearly, he is a very likeable character and let’s hope it works out for him at Lech Poznan.

Conor Spence

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